Beyond My Grasp
by DeweyIggyZuki
Summary: It was happening again. It couldn't happen again. Not with everything they'd lost. Not again.


"_Do you even care about me anymore?"_

Max stood there, staring at the winged boy she loved so dearly. Tears burned in her eyes, threatening to spill. Her hands shook.

Fang kept his eyes trained downwards, his dark hair covering part of his face. His face was hard. He stood with his hands in his jean pockets. He had been acting differently, oddly, for a while now. Even before the fight two months ago, when everything changed.

They remained like that for a while, before he broke the silence.

"Max," he was unwavering. "I just… it's not easy to explain…"

"_What _isn't easy to explain?!" her voice cracked. "_Just what?!"_

"Max, I- " he paused.

"You _what_? Just spit it out, you- you-"

"Max, I can't do this anymore."

She froze. "C- can't do what…?"

"I can't be here anymore," he said. "I can't."

Her hands shook harder. "W- what do- "

"Max," his eyes finally met hers. "I'm leaving."

Something inside of her broke. The world swayed and blurred. All she managed to get out was "Huh?"

"I'm leaving, Max." Fang said again.

"B- but," she sputtered, tears streaming down her face. "Why w-would you do that…?"

"Because, Max, I can't be here anymore. Things haven't been the same since the sky lit up. And what happened to Angel, Nudge, and Dyl- " he took a deep breath. "It's too much."

"F- Fang…"

"I'm sorry, Max."

He turned and started walking down the dirt road, away from our home. No hesitation, just evenly paced steps.

"Fang, no!" she cried out. "Come back!"

But he didn't. He just kept walking.

"Fang!" She started following him.

His wings slid out of the slits in his jacket, began to extend.

Her breath caught in her throat. She wouldn't be able to follow him, and he knew that; her wings had been badly damaged in the fight two months ago, the one that took Nudge, Dylan, and Angel from the flock. The one that had killed them. Her wings had tears and holes in them that refused to heal, despite every treatment and remedy.

She couldn't fly after him. Not this time. Not ever again.

"Fang, _no!"_

She reached out toward him, began to run. _"Fang!"_

Someone grabbed her from behind and held her against them, her back to their chest.

"No!" she yelled, struggling against their arms, kicking and screaming. "_No, no, no! Let me go!"_

"Max," said a voice behind her. "Let him go."

"NO! Iggy, let me go!" she screamed. "He can't go, can't leave us, not again!"

"Max," Iggy said again, his voice thick with emotion. "He wants to go. Let him."

"I can't!" she screamed, choking on her sobs. "_Fang! Come back!"_

Fang's legs bent, and he shot himself into the air. Powerful wings flapping, he soared into the night, as deep and dark as himself.

"FANG! COME BACK! You can't leave us again! You can't leave _me!"_

But he was gone, out of her reach.

"FANG! _FANG!_" she kept screaming.

"Max, he's not coming back." Iggy mumbled.

"FANG! Fang…!"

"I'm sorry, Max. I'm so sorry."

Her screams transitioned into sobs. Loud, messy, painful sobs that broke your heart. Her arms dropped and she sagged in Iggy's arms. She stared blankly at the starless night sky. Tears streamed down her face.

He held her like that for a while, feeling her pain. Ella, her half-sister, whom Iggy had a desperate crush on, had been killed by the bird flu that wiped out most of the world's population. Those mad scientists- those _monsters -_ had been taking things from him and the flock since before they could remember. Their childhood. Their home. Their family.

Max's sobs died down to shuddering breaths and gasps. She kept staring at the sky.

"Why did he have to go, Ig?" her voice was monotone. She was broken. Something inside her, something she had tried to fix long ago, shattered once again, a million pieces splintering into her consciousness.

Iggy took a deep breath. "He couldn't take the pain anymore, Max. He doesn't like to express his emotions. He stayed strong for us. But I don't think he could handle it anymore."

"He left me _again._"

"He left us too, Max. Me and Gazzy and Total. It's our loss too."

"What are we gonna do?" she looked up behind her, to see into his sightless eyes.

"We're gonna keep going. We're gonna keep living."


End file.
